CAA News Today
March 2011 Issue of The Art Bulletin Features Essays on the Bocca della Verità and on German Painting and Czech Cubism
posted by Christopher Howard — March 15, 2011
Articles in the March 2011 issue of The Art Bulletin, the leading publication of international art-historical scholarship, examine a range of topics that include the Bocca della Verità in Rome and German painting and Czech Cubism. Two additional essays and a collection of important book reviews round out the issue, which has been mailed to all individual CAA members who elect to receive the journal, and to all institutional members.
In “The Mouth of Truth and Forum Boarium,” Fabio Barry evaluates the Bocca della Verità in Rome from numerous perspectives to recover its origin as an antique drain cover in the form of the god Oceanus, relating the Bocca to the myth of the Romanized Hercules from the reign of Hadrian. Moving to modern times, Eleanor Moseman uses the case study of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Bohumil Kubiša to explore the relation of German painting and Czech Cubism, revealing “style” as a central issue in the international dialogue of the visual arts of early-twentieth-century Central Europe.
Two essays focus on historical Chinese art and culture. In “The Buddha’s Finger Bones at Famensi and the Art of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism,” Robert H. Sharf argues that the “finger bone” relics of the Buddha, discovered in 1987 in a crypt beneath the Famensi (Dharma Gate Monastery) in Shaanxi Province, China, could be considered as “art.” For her contribution, Jeehee Hong examines the peddler as a skeletal puppeteer in Li Song’s thirteenth-century painting, The Skeletons’ Illusory Performance, to unveil a midimperial Chinese visual commentary on the relations among performance, the everyday world, and death.
In the Reviews section, Robert S. Nelson surveys several books on art, architecture, and urbanism in the Turkish capital from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, including Shirine Hamadeh’s The City’s Pleasures: Istanbul in the Eighteenth Century and Murat Gül’s The Emergence of Modern Istanbul. Stephen J. Campbell examines the understudied field of Renaissance portrait medals through a recent book and a two-volume catalogue, while Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom consider the implications of Finbarr Barry Flood’s Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Medieval “Hindu-Muslim” Encounter, a book about the material culture of the region from western Afghanistan to northern India from the eighth to the thirteenth century. Last, Kirk Ambrose reviews the English translation of Friedrich Kittler’s Optical Media: Berlin Lectures 1999, a theoretical study of visuality and technology that considers such topics as Renaissance perspective, photography, film, and television, and the computer.
Please read the full table of contents for more details. The next issue, to be published in June 2011, will feature essays on Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Edgar Degas, and Philip Guston.
CAA Salutes Donors in the Acknowledgments Section
posted by Nia Page — March 14, 2011
Membership fees cover less than half of CAA’s operating costs; thus voluntary contributions from members significantly help to make possible the wide range of programs and services that the organization offers. In a new website section called Acknowledgments, CAA recognizes the distinguished contributors for each of the following:
- The Centennial Campaign celebrates CAA’s one hundredth anniversary, a celebratory landmark for any organization but particularly so given the organization’s dynamic influence in shaping the study and practice of the visual arts
- The Annual Campaign helps CAA maintain affordable membership dues and Annual Conference fees, implement its myriad programs and publications, and serve the international community of professionals in the visual arts
- The Donors Circle of Patron, Sponsoring, and Sustaining Members includes individuals who contribute to CAA above and beyond their regular dues
- Life Members are individuals who make one-time payments of $5,000 and remain active CAA members for life
- The Art Bulletin Publication Fund supports the production of CAA’s preeminent scholarly journal covering all areas and periods of art history
- The Art Journal Publication Fund supports the production of CAA’s cutting-edge quarterly of contemporary art and ideas
- The caa.reviews Publication Fund supports the production of CAA’s online journal devoted to critical reviews of books, exhibitions, and projects in all areas and periods of art history and visual studies
- The Annual Conference Travel Grants help cover expenses for graduate students in art history and studio art, and for international artists and scholars, who attend the CAA Annual Conference
CAA offers additional ways to contribute to the organization. Through Planned Giving, you can include CAA in your will. You can also purchase Benefit Prints by the artists Willie Cole and Buzz Spector or a collection of Art Journal Artists’ Projects by Barbara Bloom, Clifton Meador, Mary Lum, and William Pope.L. For general inquiries on CAA’s campaigns and funds, please contact Sara Hines, CAA development and marketing manager, at 212-691-1051, ext. 216.
Propose a Paper or Presentation for the 2012 Annual Conference in Los Angeles
posted by Emmanuel Lemakis — February 28, 2011
The 100th Annual Conference in Los Angeles—which concludes CAA’s Centennial year—takes place February 22–25, 2012. Listing more than one hundred sessions, the 2012 Call for Participation will arrive in the mailboxes of all individual and institutional members in March; you can also download a PDF of the twenty-four-page document from the CAA website immediately.
The 2012 Call for Participation describes many of next year’s panels and presentations. CAA and session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the eleven Open Forms sessions.
The deadline for proposals of papers and presentations for the Los Angeles conference is Monday, May 2, 2011.
In addition to dozens of wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA conference attendees can expect participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other institutions. The Los Angeles Convention Center is the conference headquarters, holding most sessions and panels, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, receptions and special events, and more.
Apply for a Spring Grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund
posted by CAA — February 24, 2011
CAA is accepting applications for spring 2011 grants through the Millard Meiss Publication Fund. Thanks to a generous bequest by the late art historian Millard Meiss, the twice-yearly program supports book-length scholarly manuscripts in any period of the history of art and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher but require further subsidy to be published in the fullest form.
The publisher, rather than the author, must submit the application to CAA. Awards are made at the discretion of the jury and vary according to merit, need, and number of applications. Awardees are announced six to eight weeks after the deadline. Please review and follow the application guidelines carefully, as some requirements have changed. Deadline: April 1, 2011.
Winter 2010 Art Journal Published
posted by Christopher Howard — February 23, 2011
The Winter 2010 issue of Art Journal, CAA’s quarterly of modern and contemporary art, has just been published. A benefit of CAA membership, the publication is mailed to those individual members who elect to receive it and to all institutional members.
Included is a collection of essays, called “Land Use in Contemporary Art,” that investigates a new genre of aesthetic practices that redefine and expand on earthworks. Organized by Kirsten Swenson and with texts by Janet Kraynak, Paul Monty Paret, and Emily Eliza Scott, “Land Use” won the 2011 Art Journal Award. In her editor’s introduction, Katy Siegel writes that the above contributors: “eschew the extremely long view taken by Land artists in the 1960s and 1970s…. The more recent generation considered here focuses on a shorter-term history, directly or obliquely addressing modern life’s interaction with nature: airports and the evacuation of rural America, economic injustice in communities along the highway, global tourism and utopia in rural Thailand.”
The Winter 2010 issue also features Kelly Baum’s short essay on Santiago Sierra that includes photographs of the artist’s project, Submission (formerly Word of Fire) from 2006–7, and Jordan Troeller’s exploration of Zoe Leonard’s photographic series, called Analogue. In addition, Chika Okeke-Agulu writes about Who Knows Tomorrow, an exhibition of projects by five African artists, sponsored by the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, that were shown in museums across the city. Okeke-Agulu also interviews Zarina Bhimji, a participating artist whose Waiting (2007) appeared in the Hamburger Banhof. Finally, Michel Oren writes about the activities of the USCO Group, a multimedia art collective from the 1960s.
The Winter 2010 issue publishes two artist’s projects: a centerfold by Fabian Marcaccio titled Black Hole $ Paintant and the final installment of Dailies, Kerry James Marshall’s comic for the inside front and back covers. Among the book reviews are Rachel Haidu’s assessment of Christine Mehring’s recent book on Blinky Palermo and Monica McTighe’s analysis of Kate Mondloch’s Screens: Viewing Media Installation Art.
Art Journal offers a pair of texts from the print publication—David Reed’s “Soul-Beating,” on his relationship to Philip Guston, and Lauren O’Neill-Butler’s review of Lee Lozano: Notebooks 1967–70—on its new website. In celebration of CAA’s Centennial year, the website also highlights Howard Singerman’s “Art Journal at Fifty,” an essay exploring the history of the publication, and “A Baker’s Dozen from the Archives,” thirteen selections from Art Journal and its predecessors, which you can download as PDFs and read.
Art Journal Unveils Website
posted by Joe Hannan — February 09, 2011
CAA has introduced a new website for Art Journal, its quarterly publication of modern and contemporary art. The launch coincides with the start of CAA’s Centennial year.
Katy Siegel, editor-in-chief of Art Journal, writes that the website “both acknowledges current material conditions of art and publishing, and honors the journal’s unique nature…. Rather than attempting to be another rapidly changing aggregator of information, the site will make visible and maintain the dense artistic and scholarly content of Art Journal in print, hopefully serving a need in the international arts community.”
The debut site features free selections from the print journal as well as content created specifically for the site. An essay by the painter David Reed, “Soul-Beating,” relates his first encounters with his mentor and friend Philip Guston and explores their shared fascination with the work of Piero della Francesca. Also from the print edition, a review by the writer and critic Lauren O’Neill-Butler examines the recently published notebooks of the artist Lee Lozano.
The initial web-only offerings are an essay by Howard Singerman, the journal’s reviews editor, on the history and shifting identity of Art Journal, and selected features from its extensive archive, each with a short introduction by a member of the journal’s editorial board. In coming months, the Art Journal site will grow to include time-based art discussed in articles, online artists’ projects, and more conversational modes of scholarship and discourse.
The Art Journal site was generously funded by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Katherine Behar, an artist and assistant professor of new media at Baruch College, will oversee the site. Lauren Cornell of Rhizome advised the organizers, and Brendan Dugan of Supervision Art Service designed the site.
Centennial Projects for The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews
posted by Christopher Howard — February 08, 2011
The CAA three journals have launched special projects to coincide with the yearlong celebration of CAA’s Centennial. Each publication—The Art Bulletin, Art Journal, and caa.reviews—has created an online anthology of articles from its back archive. The editorial boards of the journals determined the shape, structure, and content of the anthologies, and the three projects are fascinating in their distinct approaches. All are available to the wider web-browsing public.
The Art Bulletin
The Art Bulletin Editorial Board chose to feature thirty-eight essays and reviews from the journal, which has been in print since 1913, for its Centennial anthology. As Natalie Kampen notes in her introduction to the project, the articles are “the ones that made a difference to us as art historians and as people.” The articles are listed chronologically, with author, title, and a link to a PDF of the full text. Among the authors are Meyer Schapiro, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Linda Nochlin, James S. Ackerman, and Griselda Pollock.
Art Journal
Art Journal’s project is in two parts. The first is an extended essay by Howard Singerman that traces the history and shifting identities of the journal and its predecessor titles, Parnassus and College Art Journal. The author of Art Subjects: Making Artists in the American University, Singerman is current reviews editor of Art Journal. To complement the essay, members of the editorial board selected texts and artists’ projects from past issues and wrote brief introductory texts to them. As editor-in-chief Katy Siegel writes, “Some feature familiar names attached to much-cited touchstones, while others, we hope, will come as a surprise.” Both projects can be seen at the journal’s new website.
caa.reviews
The editorial board of caa.reviews took a different tack, one that reflects the journal’s born-digital nature. Current and past editors of the journal penned texts to introduce statistically relevant reviews. For each of the dozen years of publication, the Centennial anthology includes the one review that was read the most over a three-year period. Though statistics were not available for the journal’s infancy, some early reviews had the largest overall readership. The topics of the reviews in the anthology vary from installation art to Islamic architecture and reflect the diverse range of expertise of the journal’s numerous commissioning editors.
The Art Bulletin Seeks Reviews Editor and Two Editorial-Board Members
posted by CAA — February 01, 2011
The Art Bulletin is the leading quarterly journal in the English language of scholarship in all areas of art history and visual studies.
Art Bulletin Reviews Editor
The Art Bulletin Editorial Board invites nominations and self-nominations for the position of reviews editor for a three-year term: July 1, 2012–June 30, 2015, with service as incoming reviews editor designate in 2011–12. Candidates should be art scholars with stature in the field and experience in editing book and/or exhibition reviews; institutional affiliation is not required. They should also be published authors of at least one book.
The reviews editor is responsible for commissioning all book and exhibition reviews in The Art Bulletin. He or she selects books and exhibitions for review, commissions reviewers, and determines the appropriate length and character of reviews. The reviews editor also works with authors and CAA’s codirectors of publications in the development and preparation of review manuscripts for publication. He or she is expected to keep abreast of newly published and important books and recent exhibitions in art history, criticism, theory, visual studies, and museum publishing. This three-year term includes membership on the journal’s editorial board.
The reviews editor attends the three annual meetings of the Art Bulletin Editorial Board—held twice in New York in the spring and fall and once at the CAA Annual Conference in February—and submits an annual report to CAA’s Publications Committee. CAA reimburses the reviews editor for travel and lodging expenses for the two New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy, but he or she pays these expenses to attend the conference.
Candidates must be current CAA members and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Members may not publish their own work in the journal during the term of service. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a statement describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and at least one letter of recommendation to: Director of Publications, Art Bulletin Reviews Editor Search, College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email the documents to Alex Gershuny, CAA editorial associate. Deadline extended: April 11, 2011; finalists will be interviewed on Friday, April 29, 2011, in New York.
Art Bulletin Editorial Board
CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for two individuals to serve on the Art Bulletin Editorial Board for a four-year term: July 1, 2011–June 30, 2015. The ideal candidate has published substantially in the field and may be an academic, museum-based, or independent scholar; institutional affiliation is not required.
The editorial board advises the editor-in-chief of The Art Bulletin and assists him or her to seek authors, articles, and other content for the journal; guides its editorial program and may propose new initiatives for it; performs peer reviews and recommends peer reviewers; and may support fundraising efforts on the journal’s behalf. Members also assist the editor-in-chief to keep abreast of trends and issues in the field by attending and reporting on sessions at the CAA Annual Conference and other academic conferences, symposia, and events in their fields.
The Art Bulletin Editorial Board meets three times a year: twice in New York in the spring and fall and once at the CAA Annual Conference in February. CAA reimburses members for travel and lodging expenses for the two New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy, but members pay their own expenses for the conference.
Candidates must be current CAA members and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Members may not publish their own work in the journal during the term of service. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a letter describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and your contact information to: Chair, Art Bulletin Editorial Board, College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email the documents to Alex Gershuny, CAA editorial associate. Deadline: April 15, 2011.
Updated on February 24 and March 30, 2011.
Art Journal Seeks Editor-in-Chief and Two Editorial-Board Members
posted by CAA — February 01, 2011
Art Journal, issued quarterly by CAA, publishes informed discussion about issues across disciplines in twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, nationally and internationally.
Art Journal Editor-in-Chief
CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for the next editor-in-chief of Art Journal, to serve a three-year term: July 1, 2012–June 30, 2015, with service on the Art Journal Editorial Board in 2011–12 as editor designate and in 2015–16 as past editor. A candidate may be an artist, art historian, art critic, art educator, curator, or other art professional; institutional affiliation is not required.
Working with the editorial board, the editor-in-chief is responsible for the content and character of the journal. He or she solicits content, reads all submitted manuscripts, sends submissions to peer reviewers, and provides guidance to authors concerning the form and content of submissions. The editor-in-chief also develops projects, makes final decisions regarding content, and may support fundraising efforts on the journal’s behalf. He or she works closely with CAA’s staff in New York.
The editor-in-chief attends the three annual meetings of the Art Journal Editorial Board—held twice in New York in the spring and fall and once at the Annual Conference in February—and submits an annual report to CAA’s Publications Committee. CAA reimburses the editor for travel and lodging expenses for the two New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy, but the editor pays his or her own expenses for the Annual Conference.
The position usually requires one-half of a person’s working time. CAA provides financial compensation for course release, usually to an editor’s employer.
Candidates must be current CAA members and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a statement describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and at least one letter of recommendation to: Art Journal Editor-in-Chief Search, College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email the documents to Alex Gershuny, CAA editorial associate. Deadline: March 25, 2011; finalists will be interviewed on Thursday, April 28, 2011, in New York.
Art Journal Editorial Board
CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for two individuals to serve on the Art Journal Editorial Board for a four-year term: July 1, 2011–June 30, 2015. Candidates are individuals with a broad knowledge of modern and contemporary art; institutional affiliation is not required.
The editorial board advises the editor-in-chief of Art Journal and assists him or her to seek authors, articles, artist’s projects, and other content for the journal; guides its editorial program and may propose new initiatives for it; performs peer reviews and recommends peer reviewers; and may support fundraising efforts on the journal’s behalf. Members also assist the editor-in-chief to keep abreast of trends and issues in the field by attending and reporting on sessions at the CAA Annual Conference and other academic conferences, symposia, and events in their fields.
The Art Journal Editorial Board meets three times a year: twice in New York in the spring and fall and once at the CAA Annual Conference in February. CAA reimburses members for travel and lodging expenses for the two New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy, but members pay their own expenses for the conference.
Candidates must be current CAA members and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Members may not publish their own work in the journal during the term of service. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a letter describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and your contact information to: Chair, Art Journal Editorial Board, College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email the documents to Alex Gershuny, CAA editorial associate. Deadline: April 15, 2011.
Updated on February 24 and March 30, 2011.
caa.reviews Seeks One Editorial-Board Member
posted by CAA — February 01, 2011
An online journal, caa.reviews is devoted to the peer review of new books, museum exhibitions, and projects relevant to the fields of art history, visual studies, and the arts.
caa.reviews Editorial Board
CAA invites nominations and self-nominations for one individual to serve on the caa.reviews Editorial Board for a four-year term, July 1, 2011–June 30, 2015. Candidates may be artists, art historians, art critics, art educators, curators, or other art professionals with stature in the field and experience in writing or editing book and/or exhibition reviews; institutional affiliation is not required. The journal also seeks candidates with a strong record of scholarship and at least one published book or the equivalent who is committed to the imaginative development of caa.reviews.
The editorial board advises the editor-in-chief of and field editors for caa.reviews and helps them to identify books and exhibitions for review and to solicit reviewers, articles, and other content for the journal; guides its editorial program and may propose new initiatives for it; and may support fundraising efforts on the journal’s behalf. Members also assist the editor-in-chief to keep abreast of trends and issues in the field by attending and reporting on sessions at the CAA Annual Conference and other academic conferences, symposia, and events in their fields.
The caa.reviews Editorial Board meets three times a year: twice in New York in the spring and fall and once at the CAA Annual Conference in February. CAA reimburses members for travel and lodging expenses for the two New York meetings in accordance with its travel policy, but members pay these expenses to attend the conference.
Candidates must be current CAA members and should not be serving on the editorial board of a competitive journal or on another CAA editorial board or committee. Nominators should ascertain their nominee’s willingness to serve before submitting a name; self-nominations are also welcome. Please send a letter describing your interest in and qualifications for appointment, a CV, and your contact information to: caa.reviews Editorial Board, College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; or email the documents to Alex Gershuny, CAA editorial associate. Deadline: April 15, 2011.
Updated on March 30, 2011.